Athletic Programs at Laguna Beach High School

After reading your article "Laguna High Sports" (May 18), one would get the impression that the entire athletic department has gone haywire and the students are milling about looking for somebody to coach them! The picture the writer paints is bleak at best. Fortunately, the part about funding in our district was clearly defined.

We need to direct much of our ire toward Sacramento (where legislators still fail to come up with a "constant" package to support public education) and the Supreme Court for its decision to make student participation fees illegal.

Instead, your article would put the blame on our school board, our superintendent and a task force of volunteers who came up with some recommendations to alleviate the "no money now, no money coming that we know of" situation.

Declining enrollment puts an additional burden on our district; and with articles such as yours, who in their right minds would move to Laguna Beach with a family?

Our older son had enjoyed four years of water polo and swimming at Laguna Beach High. (Football is not the only sport offered.) Our aquatics program, in spite of "pool closure," a non-full-time coach and no towels, continues to draw more participants each season.

Four Laguna Beach swimmers qualified for the CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) individual meet, signifying them to be among the top 12 in their event in Southern California. Only one Laguna Beach swimmer qualified for CIF in each of the previous two years.

I have lived in this community for 12 years. I was offended by the slant of the article. We are not doing justice to the public school system when false accusations are made.

JENNIFER YELLAND

Laguna Beach

Jennifer Yelland is a member of Parent-Teachers Assn. board at Laguna Beach High School and a member of the Boosters Club.